"Waiting times for small children."

Came into a&e with my son who was very floppy with a temp of 41. 5. Very sleepy, headaches, stiff neck, vomiting, not eating or drinking, we thought he might have meningitis, came into reception at a&e. They were too busy talking gossip despite me being right infront of them. They made me wait 5 minutes then didn't seem interested when I told them what was wrong. Instead slowly asked me for my details then said to go wait in the kids waiting room. We waited for an hour to be seen! ! An hour! ! What if my son had meningitis! ? No one seemed to care or worry! Then when we were seen they checked his temp and gave him ibroprofen and told to wait for the doctor. 2 hours later! ! Ridiculous! They never told us what was wrong instead, said it was probably something viral and to keep him topped up with Calpol to keep his temp down and sent home. If my sons condition worsens we're trying Walsall manor instead!

Responses

Thank you for your post regarding your experience at Good Hope Hospital Accident and Emergency Department with your son. It must have been a very worrying time for you, and I am sorry to learn of the disaappointing experience you had.

I would very much like to look into this in more detail but would require some information from you to enable me to do this. Can I please ask you to contact me either on 0121 424 0808 or by email: marie.helebert@nhs.net

I look forward to hearing from you at your convenience and once again thank you for bringing this to our attention. I would like to assure you that we take seriously any issues our patients or their families raise with us, and we value your feedback.